The FCA boundary: what an accountant can and cannot say before referring

Certain activities in the UK are regulated and can only be carried out by firms authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Advising on investments, pensions, and many insurance products falls within this perimeter. An accountant who strays across it — by advising a client to buy, sell, or switch a regulated product — risks carrying out a regulated activity without authorisation, which is a serious matter.

The reassuring news is that introducing a client to an authorised firm is not, in itself, regulated advice. You are entitled to recognise that a client needs regulated help and to point them toward someone who can provide it. The whole discipline is understanding the difference between the introduction, which you may make, and the advice, which you may not give, and staying firmly on the introduction side of that line.

The framework comes from the Regulated Activities Order (RAO). Within it, Article 33 provides an exclusion for making introductions. In broad terms, it recognises that merely introducing a client to an authorised person — so that the client can receive regulated advice from that person — is not itself the regulated activity of advising or arranging, provided you are not the one giving the advice or handling the transaction.

This introducer exclusion is what makes an accountant's referral to a regulated advice firm lawful without you needing FCA authorisation. But it depends on you staying within the role of introducer. The exclusion covers the act of connecting the client to the authorised firm; it does not cover you tipping over into advising the client on what they should do. Understanding that condition is the key to using it safely.

Up to the boundary, there is a good deal you can legitimately say. You can:

• Identify, in general terms, that a client's situation may call for regulated advice — for example on pensions, investments, or protection
• Explain that this is specialist, regulated territory that you are not authorised to advise on
• Recommend that the client seek advice from an authorised firm
• Introduce them to vetted, regulated advice firms through your referral arrangement
• Provide factual information about the process of getting advice

None of that constitutes regulated advice, because you are describing a need and facilitating access to a properly authorised adviser, not telling the client which product to buy or what financial decision to make.

The other side of the line is equally important. You must not:

• Recommend a specific investment, pension transfer, or financial product
• Tell a client whether they should buy, sell, hold, or switch a regulated product
• Give a personal recommendation on the merits of a particular financial course of action
• Present yourself, expressly or by implication, as giving regulated financial advice

The distinction the FCA draws is between generic information and a personal recommendation. The moment your words amount to advising this particular client to take this particular regulated step, you have crossed into regulated activity. Keeping to the need — 'this looks like something you should get proper advice on' — rather than the answer keeps you safe.

In practice, staying compliant is a matter of habit: recognise the need, name it in general terms, disclaim your own authority to advise, and introduce the client to a vetted, regulated advice firm. Let the authorised firm give the regulated advice and handle the products. You remain the introducer throughout, which is exactly what the Article 33 exclusion contemplates.

A referral network built around vetted, regulated advice firms supports this by ensuring your introductions go to properly authorised destinations, with disclosure and consent handled as part of the process. That lets you accept your share of the resulting fee — typically a 60-70% member share — for the introduction, without ever conducting a regulated activity. The boundary is not a barrier to earning from financial referrals; it is simply the shape they must take. Because the perimeter and the exclusions carry detail and change over time, treat this as general orientation and check the current RAO position, or take specific advice, when setting your arrangements up.